


Hufflepuffs are Incredibly Good Finders!

by paintpastelprincess



Series: We have seven years to figure it out. [1]
Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Ashton is a noob, Calum is a gem, Fantasy, Gen, Luke is Luke, Mikey is Mikey, They are 10
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-03
Updated: 2015-01-03
Packaged: 2018-03-05 05:34:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3107981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paintpastelprincess/pseuds/paintpastelprincess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ashton isn't a squib, Michael needs a filter, Calum is always cleaning up Michael's messes, and Luke just really likes Australian quidditch, ok?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hufflepuffs are Incredibly Good Finders!

**Author's Note:**

> Hello lovely reader! This is my first piece of 5sos fanfiction so, I hope it's ok??? I want to start a sort of series involving Hogwarts!5sos, following a few misadventures during their tenure at school, and this is the backstory/intro to it. It's pretty slow, but the other works I'm planning piggy back off it? So, I hope you guys enjoy! <3
> 
> AN: I'm not sure what the Oceanic equivalent of Hogwarts is (I don't think there is one), so for the sake of the plot, they live in the UK. The boys are all the same age, 10, and as such, the prose is meant to be childish and unrefined at points, to reflect Ashton's thoughts and lack of emotional development/maturity.

Ashton hates when his mother drags him along to dinner parties. He hates the adults and their boring conversations, he hates the weird food, and he hates having to watch his sibling while the other kids play, so when his mother comes into his room and announces that he needs to get ready for another dinner party, his ten year old world falls apart. He throws himself back onto his bed and runs his hands down in face in typical adolescent angst because he ‘doesn’t wanna eat gross casserole’ and ‘Miss Agatha’s house always smells like wet dog.’

His mother laughs and gently eases herself down next to him on the mattress, she’s pregnant after all, pats his shoulder gently and tells him to stop being over dramatic and get dressed because ‘this dinner party is just him and her’ at a new friend’s house, ‘a friend from work.’ Of course this gets his attention. His mom never talked about her friends from work. Any talks of magic or anything remotely related were brushed off or avoided until about 2 weeks ago, when he got his letter from Hogwarts. His ten year world is once again in tact and he eagerly scrambles to his closet.

***

Ashton is practically bouncing with excitement when he arrives at his mom’s friend’s house. He thinks her name is Mrs.Hemmings or Mrs.Howard? He tries to remember, but his mother has been babbling about the Ministry and all these new people Ashton will meet tonight and Ashton is listening as best as a ten year old can, but his mother mentioned that one of the people here tonight can change what their hair looks like with magic and that’s all he can think about. 

He walks into the small living room and is awestruck. He is amazed at the sights, sounds and smells. Plates of food flutter between guest, unattended by a person. Glasses are refilled with the flick of a wrist. Older children buzz about showing off spells and charms they’ve learned giving the air an electric feel. Some of the guests are interacting with paintings on the walls, and yes Ashton knew paintings and pictures moved, his mother was an avid reader of the Daily Prophet, but they never actually had moving pictures on their walls. Something about Ashton having muggle friends over and not wanting to scare them, he rarely listened to his mother’s lengthy lectures. But this painting was moving, talking, laughing even, and he’s never been more excited to see wall art. In the corner of the dining room, where most of the company is, there’s a small jazz band performing, except it’s instruments sans band members and honestly he’s a little jealous because he’s been playing the drums for three years now and this stupid drum is playing itself, how is that even fair?

His mother touches his shoulder drawing him out of his wonder, and gestures toward the kitchen. Once they enter he’s greeted by the most charming woman he’s ever met, and she introduces herself as Mrs. Hemmings, not Mrs.Howard and he’s relieved he’s too amazed to speak or he would have really embarrassed himself. Mrs.Hemmings starts talking to his mom and hands her a book, he reads the spine, something about a beginners guide to the history of magic, and he really hopes it’s not for him, but when his mother passes it to him mouthing ‘summer reading,’ he almost wishes he was stuck eating casserole in a musty living room. Mrs.Hemmings tells him dinner will be ready soon and that the other kids are all upstairs in Luke’s room, which is right across from the bathroom. He’s thanks her before trudging up the steps, the obnoxious history book tucked under his arm, because where else can he put it?

He knocks on the door and is answered with a loud ‘come in,’ so he does what he’s told and wow is this room the coolest thing he’s ever seen. The walls are covered with posters of some muggle bands he recognizes, but then they are some of wizard bands he assumes because those posters move. There are also posters of quidditch players, and a guitar in the corner and his mouth drops because his drum kit isn’t allowed in his room. ‘Too distracting, you need to focus on homework,’ his mother says. His thoughts are cut short.

“Are you okay?”

“Who are you?”

“Are you gonna sit down?”

He looks toward the bed against the wall, to see three boys all around the his age, looking at him like he has two heads. 

“I’m uhh, I’m Ashton?” he says, even though it comes out as more of a question.

The blonde in the middle seems to relax, “Oh right. My mom said you’d be here.” He turns to his companions, “He doesn’t know anything about magic, goes to a muggle school and stuff. His mom thought he was a squib.” 

The other boys laugh and Ashton blushes because, yea he goes to a muggle school, and yea this is all new to him, but it’s not funny. Why would they make fun of him? They don’t even know him and they’re already being mean. He turns to leave because, yes casserole is way better than this, but the blonde stops him.

“Wait, I um, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. Umm, last week Mikey,” he points at the dirty blonde to his right, “got in trouble for setting a tree in his backyard on fire. Some muggles saw and called the police. It was really bad. My mom had to fix everything before the Ministry got involved,” he stammers out quickly. 

He continues, “And once Calum,” he nudges the tan brunette to his left, “tried to do a spell he read in some book and turned his hands purple for a week. It was awful. And I, uhh, I broke 3 windows when I was playing with my brothers wand about a month ago,” he finishes blushing.

Ashton looks at the boy confused because what does this have to do with anything?

The boy panics now, noticing his stories haven't had the desired effect and blurts, “We’ve been around magic our whole lives and don’t know anything about it? So we’re the same? You shouldn’t feel sad or bad. I’m sorry," He finishes, looking down toward his lap. 

Ashton nods a bit and looks in Calum’s direction before asking “Did you really turn your hands purple?”

“Yea,” he answers with a chuckle, his face turning red, “it was awful.”

They all relax after that and the blonde, Luke, he learns, recounts how scared they all were when Calum messed up the spell. They thought they were done for because ‘you can’t use magic underage and his brother, Ben, had a friend who got in trouble for using underaged magic. They never saw him again.’

Ashton learns that Luke and Calum have older siblings already at Hogwarts. Luke’s brothers are both in Gryffindor, ‘‘the one with lions,’ and that Mali, Calum’s sister, is in Ravenclaw, ‘blue and silver, with a raven, duh.’ They eagerly tell him about how they get on the train, the Hogwarts Express, by going through a pillar in a train station and Ashton really can’t believe that. They talk for hours it seems before Mali comes in to announce that dinner is ready, and Calum begs her to show Ashton her trick. She obliges her younger brother and scrunches her face in concentration, and suddenly her long black hair becomes short and red and Ashton gasps because ‘that is the coolest thing he’s ever seen’ and ‘can he learn to do that?’ Mali says he can learn something like at school that and he doesn’t think Hogwarts can come soon enough.

After dinner the boys say their goodbyes and they agree to ride the train together to Hogwarts. On the way home Ashton can't stop talking, asking his mother about all the the things he was told and his mother nods her head confirming everything the boys said earlier. He asks when he’s supposed to leave for school and she replies the first of September. Ashton doesn’t really think he can make it a month. That night he gets no sleep and nearly finishes the book Mrs. Hemmings gave him. 

***

It’s a week before September when his mother tell hims to start packing. He’s confused because they have a week and he doesn’t have that much stuff. She informs him that his lack of stuff is the problem and they need to do some school shopping soon. Three days before school, a sitter that he thinks he remembers from the party comes over to watch Lauren and he uses the Floo network for the first time to get to Diagon Alley and wow is being a wizard cool. 

Diagon Alley is buzzing and he doesn’t know where he should go first, but luckily his mother has a list and directs them to a bookstore where he has a crisis over getting a quill and ink and parchment because he doesn’t even have his pen license yet! After trying on robes and buying trunks and fighting with his mother to buy him a toad ‘because he’ll miss Indie soooooo much,’ they make their last stop at small shop with rows and rows of shelves filled with tiny boxes. An old man greets him and starts talking about wands and how they choose the wizard but Ashton stops listening after the word wand. He’s getting a wand. He’ll be a proper wizard then. The man asks Ashton a question and awaits an answer, but Ashton is caught up in his own mental scenario of fighting off trolls with his newly acquired magic knowledge and wand. His mother nudges him and he apologizes asking for the question to be repeated. The old man chuckles and walks away, saying he knows just the wand.

He comes back with with a thin box and opens it to reveal an ornate piece of wood. “Ash, nine and a half inches, with a dragon’s heartstring. A powerful combination for a strong willed wizard. Dragon’s heartstring is the most powerful of cores, and must be treated with utmost care. But I’m sure you can handle it, yes Mr.Irwin?”

Ashton trembles as he grabs the wand. Immediately he feels a tingling in his hand, it warms him from his fingers all the way to his shoulder and he feels as though the wand should have been there this whole time. The man smiles knowingly, not all wand selections are grandiose, but he knows one when he sees it. Ashton’s hand tingles for the rest of the day. 

***

“This is crazy,” he says in disbelief as he stands in front of the pillar separating platforms 9 and 10. He’s watched a dozen kids pass through with their luggage carts but there’s no way it’s real. It has to be an elaborate joke with smoke and mirrors. But his mother assures him it is in fact very real and they need to keep moving before it closes. He grips his cart, knuckles white and charges forward expecting to hit concrete but instead he glides through and is greeted by the site of a steaming train and there’s tons of kids in front of him giddy to begin their journey. The older ones are gathered together and eagerly talking about their summers while the younger ones look shocked and scared, much like Ashton feels. 

“Ashton!”

He whips his read around a sees a shock of blonde sticking it’s head out of one the train car windows. Ah, Luke. He waves eagerly and yells back, “Save me a seat!” before turning toward his mother. She’s nearly crying muttering something about pregnancy and hormones before she pulls her baby boy into a hug. He hugs her back and promises to write every week and to not get eaten by anything and yea he will stay away from Forbidden Forest, whatever that is. With a final kiss on the cheek he bounds into the cart and finds Michael and Calum in a heated debate about quidditch, the sport with brooms he reminds himself, and Luke smiling at him, gesturing to the open space on his side. Ashton plops down next to Luke and Michael notices him, telling Calum to shut up ‘because we have company and where are you manners, Hood?’

Michael turns to say something but the whistle blows again and the train lurches forward pulling out of the station, and Ashton clambers to the window and looks out to a sea of parents waving at their kids and he finds his mom with Mrs.Hemmings both crying while saying what looks like ‘there goes my baby boy.’ He waves and sits back into the booth, as a tsunami of sadness rushes over him. He suddenly realizes he won’t be there for the birth of his baby brother, and he won’t see Lauren for a while, or his mother and he may even start to miss Miss Agatha’s casserole a bit. He’s never left home before and he’ll be gone now for months and ‘oh no.’ 

Luke must notice Ashton’s sporadic mood change because he pats his back and comfortingly says “You’ll see them Christmas, yeah? And I’m sure your mom will write to you. This is gonna fly by, you’ll see.”

Ashton just nods and fights the tears because he can’t cry in front of strangers, how weird is that?

Michael clears his throat, trying to lighten the mood he asks “What houses do you think you’ll be in?”

Ashton looks up at Michael in confusion, “Houses?”

“Yea, houses. Like sorting and stuff? Didn’t read the book Luke’s mom gave you?”

Well yes he did, but it was more of a skimming until he saw something interesting about trolls or dragons. “I must have skipped over it,” he mutters, cheeks becoming pink.

“It’s fine,” Calum interjects waving it off, “I barely remember half the stuff in that book." He looks at Michael, his eyes narrowing, "It is kind of boring." Facing Ashton he continues, "Basically there’s four houses and where you’re sorted lays out how the rest of your seven years at Hogwarts will go.”

“Gryffindor is the best house,” Michael says. “They’ve won the House Cup every year since 91’. And they have the best quidditch team. Besides their mascot is a lion which is the best thing ever.”

Calum rolls his eyes, “Ravenclaw is another good house. They’re known for their smarts which is great for end of the year exams. I can’t tell you how much money Mali has made off of selling test answers and study guides.”

“Slytherin is kind of cool,” Luke chimes in weakly. “Snakes are cool mascots.”

“Snakes are the worst, Luke, gosh!” Michael exclaims. “And so is Slytherin. They have a little bit of money and a whole lot of ego, and they think it makes them royalty. It’s pathetic really.”

“But the worst of the worst is Hufflepuff,” Calum whispers so as not to offend the second years across the aisle from them, giggling in their blue and gold jumpers. “That’s where all the losers go."

“Losers?”

“Yea, the losers. You aren’t brave enough, smart enough, or rich enough for the other houses, but they can’t kick you out, so you get stuck in Hufflepuff. Even the name is terrible. _Hufflepuff_ ,” Michael spits, like he’s eaten something awful. 

“Well, I mean the houses don’t matter much, do they?” Ashton asks, panicking slightly because ‘oh god, what if I’m in Hufflepuff.’

“They kinda do,” Luke says, shifting to face Ashton. He counts on his fingers, “You eat with them, sleep with them, live with them and compete against the other houses with them. They’re sorta your home away from home. Jack had a friend that got sorted into Slytherin and they haven’t spoken since.” He must sense Ashton’s impending meltdown because he quickly adds, “But I’m sure we’ll be ok. The rest of Jack’s friends all went to Gryffindor, and Ben’s too.”

Ashton feels a tad better. 

“So Ashton,” Calum says raising his voice and nudging Michael, “Lemme tell you why the Montrose Magpies are the best quidditch team in the land.”

Michael scoffs, taking the bait “Please, the Chudley Cannons are obviously the better team.”

“I like the Woollongong Warriors.”

“...Luke, you don’t even live in Australia!”

***

Ashton wants to die. The pain of having to listen to Miss Agatha talk about her porcelain collection is no where near as bad as waiting to be sorted. He’s standing in a mob of first years nearly hyperventilating because _‘these older kids look like they wanna eat me.’_ And the professors look even more intimidating! This isn’t school, this is torture. He hears the last name ‘Clifford,’ and looks up to see Michael sit on a stool and have the Sorting Hat placed on him. Which honestly is pretty weird in itself but Ashton is exhausted at this point and nothing else really surprises him. The Hat grumbles, muttering something about cunning, but lazy before booming out ‘GRYFFINDOR.’ Ash cheers with Calum and Luke, who are standing next to him and watches the other first years walk toward the talking headpiece.

“Hemmings,” the older witch, McGonagall, announces. Luke steps forward, looking at his brothers for emotional support and Ashton is somewhat relieved he’s not the only one nervous. He sits on the stool and the hat barely touches his head before announcing, ‘Ravenclaw!’

Luke looks shocked, searching for his brothers faces. They make an apologetic ‘oh well’ face, shrugging. Ashton swears he hears Michael yell a ‘You ruin everything Luke!’ That’s not important though. What’s important is that now he has two houses with friends in them and there’s no way he can screw this up. 

Calum is called soon after and he practically runs up to McGonagall. The Sorting Hat makes a comment on his eagerness and bravery before announcing Gryffindor, and Calum bounds toward Michael shouting ‘DREAM TEAM.’ The professors whisper to each other, obviously recognizing trouble when they see it. 

“Irwin!”

He can’t do this. He walks up to the stool and sits, focusing on breathing and not passing out. He scans the room and his eyes lock on Luke’s. Luke smiles at him, and for the second time this week Ashton feels a familiar tingle. Also, why is this taking so long? Has the hat died, or stopped working? What if he’s unsortable and they kick him out? Well I mean that may be better than being sorted into-

“HUFFLEPUFF.”

Ashton wants to throw up. But he can’t. He can’t be the loser that gets sorted into Hufflepuff and then vomits, that’d really be social suicide. So he walks over his house table and sits next to a first year girl with chubby cheeks and frizzy hair who smiles the biggest smile he’s ever seen and he feels a little less nauseous.

When the final first year is sorted, into Gryffindor no less, the jerk, the Headmaster announces it’s time to eat. Ashton has never seen so much food in his life. The Great Hall is buzzing with conversation and festivities. Ashton looks up to see Michael and Calum animatedly telling a story to a group of first years. He assumes it’s the purple hand story as Michael keeps pointing at Calum’s hands, and Calum keeps talking over Michael to save himself from further embarrassment. Luke is sitting next to Mali, laughing at a joke some a third years is telling, his eyes scrunching up.

“Is this magic thing new to you, Ash?” the girl with chubby cheeks, Becca, asks. “You seem a little dazed.”

“What? I, oh yea. It kind of is. I mean, my mum wasn’t sure if I was a wizard, she thought I was a squib until my letter came,” he says bashfully, because really how sad is that? 

“Mine too!” a boy sitting near them yells. “She nearly cried when I got my letter. ‘A miracle,’ she said.”

The group goes on to talk about how their parents reacted when their letters came and Ashton thinks maybe being a Hufflepuff isn’t so bad after all.

***

Being a Hufflepuff is terrible Ashton decides. Actually being a wizard is terrible too. He’d even go so far as to say being in itself is terrible. It's his first day and he gets lost in this giant castle more than once, with it’s moving staircases and endless hallways. He misses both breakfast and lunch, gets stuck in the rain while crossing one of the lawns, and nearly gets into a fight with three different ghosts. And yes, while that has nothing to do with being a Hufflepuff, he could really go without the constant remarks of ‘typical Hufflepuff,’ everytime he trips over his robes. 

His last class of the day is Charms and he’s sort of excited, and surprisingly sort of early. Charms are the fun spells; the small ones that bewitch your dishes to do themselves, get your laundry to fold itself and refill your glasses so you don’t need to get up from the couch. The practical spells he’ll definitely use on a daily basis. He walks into the empty class and greets Professor Flitwick before heading straight to the back. Ok, so he’s not that excited about Charms. He’s sorting his notes from the day when someone plops next to him with a soft thud.

“Finally dude, we’ve been trying to sit with you all day.”

Ashton turns to see Michael sitting next to him and he wonders why he’s sitting with him and not with the group of Gryffindors that just came in, but before he can ask, Calum makes his way over.

“Look who finally figured his way around the castle!” He sits in front of Michael, his legs straddling the back of the chair. “We tried saving you a seat in Potions today, and later on in Transfigurations, but it’s hard when you come in so late. We even tried to wait for you at lunch, but you never showed.”

“I uhh, yea. I kept getting lost," he mutters, looking away from Calum, clearly embarrassed. 

“It’s fine," Luke says as he approaches them, breaking away from a few Ravenclaws. "My brothers got lost their first few days too. They made me this map though,” he drops a piece of parchment on Ashton’s desk before sitting next to Calum, “Perks of being the youngest.”

Ashton is confused now, because he’s the Hufflepuff, the loser, Michael said so himself, so before he can stop himself, he asks “Why are you guys here?”

They three boys look at each other befuddled so Ashton clarifies, “Why are you sitting me, the loser, remember?” It comes out harsher than he wanted.

Michael sort of flinches before looking down and mumbling, “I didn’t mean it like that.”

Calum quickly comes to Michael’s rescue “We did some research, yea. And like 11 Magpies were Hufflepuffs and so were 15 Canons so I mean Hufflepuff can’t be that bad.”

“And like 8 Warriors were Hufflepuffs!”

“Luke, really, no one cares about the Wallaby Warriors.”

“Woollongong, Michael.”

“Still not caring.”

And Ashton giggles, before chiding Michael, “I care.”

Luke makes an ‘I told you so ‘ face and Michael groans, running his hands down his face, “Maybe Hufflepuffs are that bad.”

Calum rolls his eyes before looking at Ashton, “We’re your friends, yeah? And some stupid talking hat isn’t gonna change that. So have dinner with us tonight? And we’ll walk to class together tomorrow, so you don’t get lost?”

He nods eagerly as Flitwick taps on his podium, announcing that class is about to begin. 

As they walk to dinner together, Ashton asks why the Wollongong Warriors are the best quidditch team and Michael throws his hands up in frustration because ‘they don’t even play in the UK League.’ Calum laughs and Luke eagerly explains that they have dominated the Oceanic League for years, talking over Michael’s comments of ‘there’s only like two teams in the Oceanic league, Luke!’ And Ashton decides maybe being a Hufflepuff isn’t all that bad, after all.


End file.
